MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 625 



No. XI.— THE PALE-BROWN SHRIKE {LANIUS ISABELLINU8) 

 IN THE DARBHANGA DISTRICT. 



I got a specimen of this bird on the 2l8t February of this year ; at first 

 I took it to be the Brown Shrike (i. cristatus) but on shooting it, it proved to 

 be this species. I do not think it has ever been recorded from this District 

 nor in any other places as far east as this, so the record is interesting. 



CHAS. M. INGLIS. 



Baghownie Factoky, Darbhanga District, 

 16th June 1913. 



No. XII.— THE FOREST WAGTAIL {LIMONIDROMUS INDICUS) 

 IN THE DARBHANGA DISTRICT, TIRHOOT. 



I have the pleasure of recording the obtaining of this wagtail in this 

 district. Though I have been collecting continually for the last sixteen 

 years in these parts, this is the first time this bird has come to my notice. 

 It was got to-day and was as would be expected in a mango grove, though 

 not a very large one, and when distributed flew up into a tree in the same 

 way as is done by the Indian Tree-Pipit (Anthus maculatus). 



CHAS. M. INGLIS. 



Baghownie Factory, Laheria Sarai, 

 1st October 1913. 



No. XIII.— COMMON CUCKOO {CUCVLUS CANORUS) LAYING 



IN THE NEST OF THE PLUMBEOUS REDSTART 



{RHYACORNIS FULGINOSUS). 



In June this year I found two eggs of Cuculus canorus in nests of Rhya- 

 cornis fulginosus near Dalhousie. 



The first I found on the 3rd June. The nest contained four Redstart eggs 

 and one Cuckoo's egg. They were all hard set — the Cuckoo's egg a good 

 deal more than the Redstart's. The nest was built behind a thick fringe 

 of moss and rocks hanging down a rock face and about 4 inches clear 

 of it ; it was about 8 ft. above a small pool in a stream. 



The second I found on the 14th June. There were three Redstart's eggs 

 in the nest. They were all slightly incubated, the Cuckoo's egg least of 

 all. The nest was built in a hollow in a grassy bank near but not over- 

 hanging the stream. Both nests were near the same stream and about a 

 quarter of a mile apart. 



The first Cuckoo's egg measures -9'' x •69". The ground colour is pinkish 

 buflf and the egg is evenly blotched and spotted with dull pink. It is a 

 broad oval in shape with the small end rather pointed. 



The second egg measures -75" x '62" ; it is very similar to the first in 

 colour, but has a slight tinge of grey, and the markings form a distinct 

 zone round the larger end : it is a longer shaped egg than the first and the 

 smaller end is only slightly narrow than the larger. 



A. CRUICKSHANK, Oapt., 



32nd Sikh Pioneers. 



Lahore Cantonment, 25th July 1913. 



[The Plumbeous Redstart is not included by Mr. Stuart Baker in his list of nineteen 

 birds in which the Common Cuckoo's eggs have been taken in India, vide Joum. 

 B. N. H. S., Vol. XVII, p. 78.— Eds.] 



